Captain's Head
by miss.happily.ever.after
Summary: Takes place at the end of Thriller Bark Arc, but Zoro is stopped from doing his sacrifice and Kuma takes away Luffy as planned.


AN: Got this idea and had to write it down. I do not own One Piece, just this fic. Enjoy my little twist.

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Captain's Head

Sanji did everything in his power to stand on his feet, but the attack from Zoro's sword to his ribs took his breath and strength away. A perfect blow. Damn it. He felt his conscience slowly slipping away. He grabbed the swordsman's shoulder to hold his balance as fury rose up inside him.

"Bastard", he spat under his breath.

Zoro didn't even flinch. How could he do this? That moss-head had his own dreams to pursue. Sanji fell to his knees and his grip began to lose strength. _'Crap,'_ he thought as everything went black.

~x~x~x~x~x~

The cook's body fell to the ground. _'Sorry about that,'_ Zoro thought to himself and tried not to wangle on his feet while standing. Damn, he was so exhausted. This better go fast or he would faint. He sighed.

"This is my last request," Zoro said and threw his swords in front of Kuma to show his complete surrender and defeat.

Well, he would not need his swords after death anyway. Kuma stared at him for what seemed like ages. It looked like as if he was fighting a battle within himself which made Zoro worry. The Shichibukai sighed.

"I am utterly impressed. This is a very honorable thing to do. I see that Strawhat-Luffy has found himself a very reliable crew. But I am very sorry to inform you that my superiors will not be pleased with me taking a life of _one_ crewmember, no matter how powerful. Please understand that your crew has been a lot of trouble for the World Government lately and I was supposed to annihilate every single one of you. I would never dare to do that now after seeing your noble sacrifices. This is as far as I can go, it is not a negotiation. Taking the captain is me being generous. I have found myself having a weak spot for your crew and for that I apologize."

Zoro honestly didn't know if he was dreaming or not. Did he hear that right? Seriously? Hopelessness filled his stomach and he clinched his fists together tight. Well then, there was nothing left to lose. He quickly jumped forward in an attempt to reach his swords. Only then could he be able to defend Luffy at any cost, even if he knew his chances. His fingers just barely touched his new Shusui when he felt a heavy blow to the face. He didn't know if it was a fist, kick, an ability or whatever, but it hurt like hell. The impact sent him flying and he lost conscience before he smashed to the ground.

~x~x~x~x~x~

Sanji opened his eyes. His whole body ached from the battle before. What had happened? At first he was a bit disorientated, but then he remembered. Zoro! Ignoring the pain in his muscles, he quickly sat up and looked at his surroundings. When he spotted the swordsman, he rose up to his feet and ran towards him. For the first time on this journey he prayed that the stupid marimo was alive. As soon as he was beside Roronoa he started to shake his shoulders violently. Zoro moaned and his eyes flew open.

"You bastard," Sanji said in relief.

Roronoa was still breathing... To hide his pleased smile, Sanji punched the swordsman in the face.

"Don't ever do that again," the blond said in a serious tone referring to when the other had punched him into unconsciousness.

Normally Zoro would complain, yell, swear or just hit Sanji back. This time he just pushed the cook out of his way and ran towards a certain spot. It seemed like he was looking for something, but couldn't find it. Sanji didn't understand. What?

Zoro fell defeated to his knees and smashed his fists in the ground.

"No," Sanji said in a weak voice realizing what was upsetting the swordsman. "No..."

Sanji started running around the place, looking. Just like Zoro had done some seconds ago. He found every crewmember of the Strawhat pirates, except their captain. Luffy was gone. Sanji pulled his hands through his hair. He was panicking, didn't know what to do. His heart was pounding loudly in his chest.

"Oi Zoro," Sanji called, not using any offensive nicknames. This was not the time. "Where is he?"

Zoro was just sitting there on his knees, staring at the ground. This was getting on Sanji's nerves. He walked over to the swordsman and grabbed a fistful of the fabric from his T-shirt.

"Where is Luffy?" Sanji repeated while fighting back tears. "Answear me, asshole!"

The Black Leg pirate lifted his grip which forced Zoro to look up at him. Tears. There were tears in the sworsman's eyes, but that was not the worst part of it. Shame, anger, hopelessness, sadness... There was no end to words that could describe the look on Zoro's face.

"Where do you think he is?" Zoro answeard behind gritted teeth. "Try, on a little vaccation with a Shichibukai."

Sanji's grip of Zoro's T-shirt losened. The cook bit his lip hard, his eyes were burning. _'Crap.'_

It was at this time that the other crewmembers started to gain contience and woke each other up. They were all a bit starled at first but when they saw that there was no sign of the Shichibukai they relaxed immidietly. Cheers and heartlighted conversations filled the area. Nico walked up to Sanji.

"Robin-chan," the cook greeted with a weak smile.

He saw that Robin knew. She only wanted confirmation and for that she just needed one look at Sanji's expression.

"I see," was the only thing she said and her gaze went to the ground.

She grabbed her own arms, as if hugging herself without saying anything else. How Sanji hated to see her like this, but worse was just to come.

"Where's Luffy? Is he still sleeping?" Usopp laughed, happy that the fight was over. "Luffy!"

There was no answear. Usopp giggled.

"Chopper! Help me out here," Usopp told his little friend. "LUFFY! Wake up, you idiot!"

"Luffy! Wake up, you idiot!" Chopper joyfully mimicked.

"We have meat, Luffy! I will eat everything up! Mmm... This tastes just delicious!"

Usopp smiled in triumph after his threat. He now waited for stretched arms to grab his waist, soon followed by the captain crushing into him, making them both fall and of course preventing Usopp from eating up all the meat. But there were no gum-gum powers. There was only silence. Usopp scratched the back of his head in confusion.

"Franky, help us find him. He is really out," Usopp said troubled.

"I will find him SUPER-fast!" The cyborg yelled in confidence as he did a dramatic pose.

"I will help out too, yohohoho!" Brook sang.

They all started to look for Luffy. God, it broke Sanji's heart. He heard a sigh and glanced at Zoro to see that the moss-head had finally lifted himself up from the ground. The swordsman took a deep breath and prepared himself to face the rest of the crew.

"Can everyone come here for a second?" His voice was rough, the complete opposite of how he was feeling inside.

"We are looking for-" Chopper bagan.

"Just come," Sanji interrupted as he closed his eyes and lited a cigarett to hold his emotions in check.

They all gathered around and looked like big questionmarks.

"Well this better be important," Nami huffed.

Zoro looked at Sanji who nodded. The swordsman took another deep breath.

"Luffy is gone," he started. "The Shichibukai took him and there was nothing I could do. I..."

He couldn't utter anymore words. His voice was already on the verge of breaking. His hands were trembling.

"What do you mean Luffy is gone? That's ridiculous. He... But we... _We_ are are all here. How could he..."

Nami stared at Zoro and waited for him to say that this was all a big joke. Though it was not funny.

"Kuma spared us," Robin simply filled in.

The Shichibukai... _Spared_ them? Like what, let them live? In exchange for what?

"Oh my god," Nami whispered and covered her mouth with her hands. "Oh my god, Luffy..."

She realized what the latest events had been, slowly sat down and tears filled her eyes. Choppar looked at Nami and shook his head.

"No, Luffy is not... Luffy... Luffy..." Chopper sniffed.

The little reindeer looked Zoro straight in the eyes. Just like a little child would look at his older brother and that one was supposed to then ensure that everything would be alright. The swordsman opened his mouth, but found no comforting words and closed it again. Choppar then broke out in hysterical crying and Robin quickly hugged him tightly.

Usopp let out a fake nervous laughter.

"You must be joking," he said in a shaky voice. "Luffy is the one who took us out to sea for God's sake! He- He can't just leave us like this! He is supposed to become the Pirate King! How are we supposed to sail without him? He... He can't do this to us!"

Usopp's vision was suddenly all blurry. He closed his eyes and kicked a rock beside him with all his might breaking two toes in the process, but he couldn't care less. _'Crap, crap, crap, crap! Luffy!'_

"I'm sure Luffy is fine," Franky said in denial, but was crying as well. "H-He probably k-kicked that S-Shichibukai's ass and i-is on h-his way h-here right n-now!"

"I-I believe in y-your words!" Brook cried.

Everyone ignored Franky and Brook together with their mumbling. Usopp buried his hands into his thick hair and pulled, as if it would help him get an idea of how Luffy could magically appear and be with them again.

"He is our friend!" Usopp sobbed. "Are you telling me, we were all just sleeping while he was taken away? I-It just... NO!"

"But, he always protected us... Always!" Nami cried. "He is our captain, we are supposed to protect him too! And not letting him being taken away!"

The crew had never been so beaten, so confused and lost. Never could they imagine how powerful impact Luffy had on all of them and how impossible it was to move forward without him guiding them. A simpleminded skinny boy with strange powers and a great ambition. A friend, captain and leader. Now he was gone, just like that. Not because he had lost in a fight, he would not regret dying for chasing his dream. No, he even didn't get a chace to face the Shichibukai. Didn't get a chance to defend his own life. Why? Beacuse he had previously defended the crew's lives with all the power he had.

In silence the strawhat pirates tried to deal with the pain in their hearts. Most of them were crying, some just staring lifelessly out in the wind and others would clench their fists together so tight so that they would bleed. After a few minutes, Sanji trew his cigarett on the ground and stepped on it to extinguish the remaining light.

"What would Luffy do in this situation?" He whispered.

The crewmembers looked up in the sky, thinking of a solution. It was very simple, really.

"He would-" Nami said.

"Come back for us." Usopp filled in.

The strawhat crew whipped away their tears, feeling a little bit more confident. A strong wind started to blow, encouraging them to set sail.

"We are getting our idiot back," Zoro said with a smile on his face.

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AN: So what did you guys think? Kind of a reversed situation to Sabaody, where in this it's the crew that loses Luffy and not vice versa.  
Anyway, I'm eager to hear your thoughts. Plz review! :)


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